Hamas: Raise Your Children to Die for Allah

 

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal urges Palestinian fathers in Gaza and around the world to continue raising their children with a desire to die in service to Allah.

 By Israel Today Staff

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Saturday reaffirmed that the organization he heads and many allied Palestinian groups live for nothing more than to kill Israeli Jews and “liberate” the Holy Land from their presence.

Hamas: We Live for Death – Photo source: Israel Today

Speaking from Qatar, where he has been holed up due to Syria’s ongoing civil war (Hamas was previously headquartered in Damascus), Meshaal urged Palestinian fathers to continue instilling a desire for death in their children from the youngest ages. Continue Reading »

25,000 runners to participate Friday in annual Int’l Jerusalem Marathon

The 4th Int’l Jerusalem Marathon is set for this Friday with 25,000 runners from 54 countries are expected to take part in one of several tracks.

The 800-meter social race, the International Jerusalem ”Winner” Marathon, supports the needy.

By Yori Yalon

 

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US visas withheld to Israel ex-security, now, post-army travelers

 

Congress & U.S. St. Dept. at odds over visas for Israelis following recent reports in unparallelled numbers of Israelis being denied entry visas.

By JTA

 

The battle between members of Congress and the State Department over tourist visas for Israelis features two competing archetypes of the young Israeli traveler.
Israel Passport - Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Israel Passport – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The lawmakers paint a picture of a world traveler, matured by service to country, who deserves a break from the stresses of the Middle East. U.S. consular officials, meanwhile, have warned of lawbreakers hawking dubious Dead Sea beauty products in malls and at rest stops. Continue Reading »

Hamas labels Egypt’s blockade as a ‘crime against humanity’

 

The continued closure of Egypt’s Rafah Crossing into Gaza, prohibiting regular traffic for past 6 weeks, has prevented travel and denied humanitarian aid for thousands of Palestinians.

By Reuters

 

The Palestinian militant group Hamas on Tuesday called Egypt’s curbs on movement through its crossing with the Gaza Strip a “crime against humanity”, in an unprecedented rebuke of its Arab neighbor that further frays their worsening ties.

Palestinians walking toward the Egyptian border crossing with Gaza in Rafah, Egypt

Palestinians walk toward the Egyptian border crossing with Gaza in Rafah, Egypt, Aug. 2012.- Photo: AP

The closures, that Egypt says were introduced because of security concerns, have cut off imports of medicine and aid to the impoverished coastal enclave and prevented travel by thousands of Gazans and patients seeking treatment abroad. Continue Reading »

Abbas’ PA issues oil exploration tender for outside the West Bank city of Qalqilya

The project is expected to generate more than $1 billion in taxes, royalties & other bonuses for Abbas’ Palestinian Authority.

By Reuters

 

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday issued a tender for oil exploration in the West Bank for a license it said could hold between 30 and 186 million barrels of oil.
An oil drilling platform, illustration.

An oil drilling platform, illustration.- Photo: Bloomberg

The project will be run as a joint venture, with the government-owned Palestine Investment Fund having at least a 25 percent stake, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mohammad Mustafa said in a statement.
The area of the license, outside the West Bank city of Qalqilya, is near a small field being developed by Israeli firm Givot Olam northeast of Tel Aviv.
Continue Reading »

Hezbollah: Golan Attack on IDF Jeep was Kidnapping Attempt

A Hezbollah sources reported that the explosion on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights Tuesday that injured 4 IDF soldiers was a failed kidnapping attempt.

By Uzi Baruch

 

Hezbollah sources said Tuesday that an explosion on the Golan Heights that injured four IDF soldiers had been an attempt to kidnap soldiers. The kidnapping attempt was reported by Al-Manar television, a Lebanese news outlet associated with Hezbollah. The reported quoted Hezbollah sources as saying that although the attempt failed “this time, we are sure we will succeed in the near future.”

Reports said that the IDF was investigating whether the soldiers were injured when they got out of the jeep. Continue Reading »

Israel to invest $60 million in 4 Golan Druze towns over 4 years

 

 

The Israeli government is planning to increase aid to the Druze communities of the Golan Heights with a huge investment plan spanning four years.

View of Druze village Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights - Photo: Wilson44691/Wikimedia Commons

View of Druze village Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights – Photo: Wilson44691/Wikimedia Commons

According to Haaretz, the government will spend NIS209.4 million ($59.8 million) between 2014 and 2017, with some NIS80 million going to transportation infrastructure, NIS54 million going to education and NIS12 million being invested in tourism development.

Continue Reading »

Israel’s Navy & Palestinians exchange short gunfire on Gaza coast

 

Israeli Navy received gunfire from beach while intercepting small boat attempting to make its way from Gaza toward Egypt.

No one reported wounded in incident.

By Lilach Shoval and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Continue Reading »

Chief Israeli negotiator: J’lem may not carry out 4th Palestinian prisoner release

Israel’s Chief negotiator in the ongoing peace process Tzipi Livni reminded Abbas’ PA that there was “never any automatic commitment to release prisoners” without a peace deal.

By REUTERS

 

JERUSALEM – Israel told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday it might not carry out a final stage of a Palestinian prisoner release unless he commits to prolonging peace talks beyond a US-set April deadline for a deal.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

Israel’s chief negotiator, Tzipi Livni, issued the warning just a day after Abbas, at a White House meeting with US President Barack Obama aimed at keeping the talks alive, voiced hope the prisoners would go free by March 29. Continue Reading »

4 IDF soldiers hurt by blast on Israel-Syrian border

 

 

Four Israeli soldiers were wounded Tuesday after an explosive device was detonated on their patrol along the Syrian border, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams.

File picture shows Israeli soldiers in a training field in the Golan Heights, next to the Israeli-Syrian border ( Jack Guez (AFP/File) )

Israel responded to the explosion with artillery fire on the Syrian city of Quneitra, where the assailants were believed to have hailed from and air force jets have reportedly been circling over the northern Golan Heights.

The army also instructed local farmers to evacuate the area and all construction works on the Syrian border fence have been temporarily halted.

Continue Reading »

Israel’s Defense Minister: ‘We can’t rely on U.S. against Iran’s nuclear program’

 

Criticizing Washington & Europe for their soft stance on Iran, Israel’s defense minister admits ‘Weakness certainly does not pay in the world… I hope the United States will come to its senses.’

By The Associated Press

 

Israel cannot depend on the United States to lead any action against Iran’s nuclear program and can only rely on itself, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Tuesday.

Ya'alon: Israel can't rely on US on Iran (Photo: Ido Erez)

Ya’alon: Israel can’t rely on US on Iran – Photo: Ido Erez

The comments came as world powers and Iran sat down to start a new round of talks over Iran’s contested nuclear program.

The West fears the program could be used to make a nuclear weapon and seeks to scale it back. Continue Reading »

Court criticizes Knesset for neglecting to regulate ritual circumcision

An Ashkelon judge lambastes Israel’s parliament for continually failing to manage this problem in its ruling acquitting 2 men of performing a circumcision without licenses.

 

An Israeli court slammed the Knesset on Thursday for failing to enact legislation regulating circumcision, saying it should have done so long ago.

 A mohel is surround by other rabbis and relatives as he holds a boy at his circumcision. Photo by AP

A mohel is surround by other rabbis and relatives as he holds a boy at his circumcision. – Photo: AP

Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court Judge Haim Nachmias issued the rare criticism in his verdict acquitting two mohels, or “ritual circumcisers,” on charges of negligence.

“The legislators would be wise to regulate the profession of performing circumcisions, and the supervision of those performing this religious commandment, through legislation,” he wrote.

Continue Reading »

Bennett: No Israeli-Arabs in Final Prisoner Batch if it Even Happens

Jewish Home chief requests that the Cabinet discuss cancelling the 4th planned prisoner release of convicted terrorist murderers altogether, since the ‘gesture’ is for naught.

By Gil Ronen

 

Minister of Economics and Naftali Bennett, who heads the Bayit Yehudi party and is a member of the Diplomacy and Security Cabinet, made clear Tuesday that no Arab-Israelis will be included in the last batch of terrorist murderers being released at the end of the month, as part of a “gesture” toward the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Speaking on IDF Radio, Bennett called for a discussion to be held in the Cabinet as soon as possible, regarding the idea of cancelling the fourth tranche in the terrorist release altogether, and citing recent statements by PA chairman Mhmoud Abbas (“Abu Mazen”) as proof that there is no point in carrying out any more releases. Continue Reading »

PA’s Erekat: Israel Must Choose – Peace or ‘Settlements’

Chief negotiator for the PA again blames Israel for the lack of progress in peace talks, says negotiations don’t need to be extended.

By Elad Benari

 

The chief Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator, Saeb Erekat, on Monday once again blamed Israel for the lack of progress in peace talks, saying that the Israelis must choose between “settlements” and peace.

Speaking with reporters following PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Erekat accused Israel of having built more than 10,000 homes in Judea and Samaria since the negotiations began last July.

“Is this progress?” Erekat said, according to The Associated Press (AP). Continue Reading »

Israel’s trade deficit took a sharp decline for 2013

 

Economy and Trade Ministry’s Foreign Trade Administration reports Israel’s trade deficit amounted to $2.3 billion in 2013 compared to 2012’s $8.5 billion.

High-tech industry accounts for 81% of Israel’s industrial exports for 2013.

By Hezi Sternlicht and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Continue Reading »